Wednesday, February 15, 2017

COA clears ERC chairman

The Commission on Audit
(COA) recently brought to an end the controversies hounding the Energy
Regulatory Commission (ERC), after it released its investigation report
clearing the ERC head of allegations concerning a P300,000 audio-visual project
(AVP).

In the report signed by
State Auditor Vivencio C. Quiambao Jr. and Supervising Auditor Flovita Felipe,
the COA debunked issues raised against ERC Chairman Jose Vicente B.
Salazar. The report junked insinuations that the selection of the
supplier for the project was “rigged”, as alleged in an apparent suicide note
of the late ERC Director Jose Francisco Villa Jr.

According to the COA
report, the AVP “was not consummated” and that no payments were made in
connection with the project.

Contrary to allegations
made in supposed suicide notes, the COA did not report any “rigging” in the
selection process for the supplier for the project.

It will be recalled
that the COA conducted the audit investigation following the suicide of Villa
in November last year.

Prior to his death,
Villa headed the ERC Bids and Awards Committee, which supervised the
procurement of office supplies and professional services. Villa’s suicide notes
spurred controversies in the wake of an allegation in his notes that he was
under pressure to approve a contract for a certain Jose Morelos for the
production of the said AVP.

In its findings, the
COA said “records would show that no payments were made to Mr. Morelos” in
connection with the AVP. It also noted that a memorandum of agreement for the
services of Morelos as ERC consultant was terminated by the ERC some two weeks
after it was signed.

The amount set aside to
cover Morelos’s fees for the period was not paid out and “will be reverted [to
the ERC] as the transaction did not materialize,” the COA report said.

The COA report also
confirmed earlier information released by the ERC that no contract was awarded
for the AVP.

“No prospective bidders
submitted their quotation for which it became a failure of bidding for the
first posting in the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System site,”
the COA report said.

The second posting was
also a failure because “it was alleged that the preparation of the second Terms
of Reference failed to indicate the passing rate, which was a vital information
to determine the most responsive quotation,” the COA report pointed out.

“There were no further
actions taken by the ERC after the two failed biddings,” the COA attested in
its report.

According to the COA
report, the AVP was a project of the Public Information Division, which is
under the Planning Information Service that Villa concurrently headed.

The project, initiated
as early as 2010 by then-ERC Chairman Zenaida C. Ducut, was intended to educate
the public on the mission and role of the ERC.

In a statement, Salazar
said he thanked the COA for the completion and submission of its report
following its investigation of “the issues raised by the late Director Jose
Francisco Villa”.

“We are pleased to note
that the report compiled by the COA following its investigation is consistent
with the earlier information the ERC released concerning the audio-visual
project in question. It is significant that the COA report has confirmed the
fact that no contract has been awarded for the project in view of the
successive failed biddings, and that no funds were expended in connection with
it.”

“With the issues now
clarified, the ERC is set to pursue the industry and institutional reforms we
have initiated with added vigor and determination.”

“We went through a
difficult period which put to the test our commitment both to the institution
we serve and to reforms we are mandated to put in place. With the conclusion of
the investigation by the COA, we can now put this period behind us and face the
future with greater confidence in our ability to transform the vision of the
ERC into reality.”